Pages

01 July 2011

Free for All Friday No. 137

At the New York meet up in May, I was struck by all the different ways that people are using their Filofaxes. Most of the time, I find that I try to use a paper form the way it was meant to be used. Lately, I've been allowing myself more freedom.

Are you a conformist in your Filo, or a free-former?

Of course, since it's Friday, all forms of Filofax conversation are welcome.

18 comments:

Well, I'm a mix of both but since reading Philofaxy I have learnt to print on Filofax paper and am becoming more and more of a free former. I like the ability to make my Filofax do exactly what I want. iWork like the ability to have collision my Filofax. Although I print on the ordinary White paper, I use watermarks and borders to brighten up the pages and to classify entries. For instance, the categories in my book Filofax have different coloured borders for different genres. I'm trying out the Dodofax at the moment but iplan to print my own diary sheets for next year - just a simple table , two weeks perpage as I don't really like writing on the reverse.I really love the freedom of this.

My Mom is taking on a new project making a scrap book of my late father (it's really my suggestion as it is theraputic!). I've suggested she uses a filofax to plan this and have got her some scrapbook specific inserts from a website to help her do this. All we need now is an A5 filofax to put them in! I've been scouring the internet for something attractive at a cheap price (she is on a budget and has insisted I don't buy it for her). Therefore if anyone sees anything that fits the bill, please can you let me know? You can email on ali @ alisonreeves dot co dot uk I suppose a pretty coloured domino would fit the bill well, but anything else would be considered. I'll continue to look as well! I'm also looking for one for my happiness project, but want to get her sorted first.

I'm definately a conformist! I do write my appts and meetings down on my business one day-per-page but then the sheet gets all messed up with my free-for-all... Today is my first day of new job promotion at work so cleaning up the filo is on my list!

I am using my Filo as a master-planner right now. I have tabs for This Week, To Do NOW, My Stuff, Family, House and Craft Beer. It's an A5 Domino, and I am using the week per page with notes and LOVE it. Hopefully they will still have them for next year. I would really like to get an A5 punch to put more custom stuff in easier (right now I do the trace/hand punch method). I also am using some top tabs in the busier sections to make finding things easier. I would really like to get a personal Filo to use as a Craft Beer Journal.

@ Alison, Not sure where you live but I was in Selfridges again today (London) and noticed they had further reductions on the Filofaxes. They were going for silly money and this is what I came away with today -

Thanks guys - I live in the Midlands (Wolverhampton) so a bit challenged when it comes to filofax outlets! I've called my local Rymans, house of fraser etc and nothing available so I seem to be stuck with online stores only. They seem to think noone in my area would want an A5 binder!

I think with these things you just need to be in the right place at the right time (if anyone sees an A5 aqua at the right price please let me know asap!).

I've had a very, very kind offer from Kate who has offered to donate a no longer used A5 to my Mom for her scrapbook project - so my heartfelt thanks to her for that. I have called my Mom and told her about that and the inserts I have got for and she is really excited! She things I need to help her to use the filofax, but I think she'll have it sorted pretty quickly!

It seems to have gone a but quiet in here - is everyone off on holiday?

Random thought. A friend gave me her old mini executive and I've no idea what to do it. It's very pretty, gorgeous red leather and super slim but really tiny, can't even use it as a wallet. Any ideas, please?

Thanks Steve, not a bad idea. At the moment I'm just carrying it in my handbag with note paper but I just never use it and it's bothering me. It's gorgeous so I don't really want to get rid of it but not too practical.

I'm a mix, but probably lean more towards the freeformer. I may start out using the pages/refills as they are but might tweak them or redo them to suit my purposes. I find that by having subject tabs behind my diary pages, I can go wild with my free-form content and not mess up the diary pages as much.

@ Kate - I sometimes have a collision in my Filofax with all the scribbling going on!

I'm fairly traditionalist on the diary pages, but the rest of my Filofax is pretty free form. I get rid of the subject tabs (well, I use them as templates) and use pretty paper for my tabs. I never use the pre-printed forms for their intended use--usually they are simply used as notepaper for whatever I need. I like to use the to-do pages as shopping lists because of the check boxes, but my actual to-do's go on the diary page itself. That's the beauty of the Filofax, right?

(And all this talk about the A5 Aqua is killing me...I'm on a shopping ban, but must...find...one...soon...)